Easy Ways to Add Color to Your Summer Home Decor

Join in this beautiful summer home tour and learn some easy ways to add color to your summer home decor. Lots of gorgeous decor inspiration that can be used in any home!

Summer Home Tours

Welcome to summer home tour week! I always love getting a peak into other people’s homes and seeing all of the different design styles and ideas. This week I have TWO home tours scheduled for you! I’ll be sharing our summer dining room today as part of The Happy Housie’s Summer Seasonal Simplicity Series, and our summer kitchen will be on the blog on Friday. Get ready for lots of summer home decor inspiration!

If you’re coming over today from Maison de Cinq – welcome! Sheila has such a beautiful French farmhouse style and always has the best tips for easy seasonal styling. If you haven’t had a chance to visit her, be sure to pop over and say hello!

Now let’s get going with the dining room home tour! Come on in!

How to Add Color to Summer Home Decor

One of my favorite things with seasonal decorating is adding in some fun pops of color. I really enjoy switching things up from season to season and try to play around with different accent colors from year to year as well. It really doesn’t take much. Just a few pops of color here and there can really transform the look and feel of your home. So, if you’re looking to try some different colors in your home this summer, here are some tips to help you out.

Keep your primary pieces neutral.

It seems a little ironic that I’m starting off talking about neutral decor in a post about adding color. But, if you like changing up your accent colors for the different seasons and holidays, this is the easiest way to do it. Keeping your staple pieces neutral allows you to change up your accent colors to whatever you would like and minimizes how many items you’ll need to switch out and store during the off season.

I obviously love white, and have lots of white serving pieces and dishware to serve as a base.  Wood toned pieces also work well with various color palettes and can easily be integrated into your year round decor. Once you have your favorite base pieces, it’s just a matter of switching up a few accents here and there and adding in a couple of fun seasonal touches.

Choose the color scheme for the accent colors.

There are so many different colors {and color combinations!} that you can use for your summer decor. Blue always seems to be the color I’m drawn to the most in the summer, and it looks great with so many other colors too.

For the dining room this year, I went with blue as the primary accent with some greens and yellows as secondary colors. If you’re not sure what color you should try, find a piece that really speaks to you and pull some colors out of that. Play around with what you have and you might be surprised what you come up with!

Use seasonal food items.

Using food to add some color to our space, is one of the easiest ways to switch things up. It’s inexpensive, non-wasteful, and you get to eat your decor! And, as an added bonus, you don’t have to worry about storing it in the off season. Summer fruits are one of my favorite items to use. They come in vibrant colors in a variety of color palettes and are delicious to eat. Try lemons, oranges, berries, or even colored candies in your favorite summer colors.

I used lemons and blueberries for this little flavored beverage bar as well as for our tablescape. I find if I leave the water and the fruit out throughout the day, I’ll tend to graze on it more instead of reaching for sweets and treats!

Change up your linens.

Linens are another way to quickly add some color to your decor. Switch up your tablecloth or table runner, or use some fabric napkins in the color of your choice. I usually just purchase 6 napkins in whatever accent color I’m using. If we have more people than napkins, I just alternate the accent color napkins with plain white napkins. It still looks pretty and cuts down on the number of napkins that you need to purchase {and store!}.

When you’re not using the napkins, just roll them up and place them in a large bowl or layer them in with your other items so they still add that great pop of color to your decor!

Switch up your dishes.

I love pretty seasonal dishes and they add that perfect touch of color to your summer tablescape. Even when they’re not being used, they can be stacked on a hutch or sideboard or placed on a cake stand to add some color to your space. To save on money and storage space, I usually just purchase the smaller salad plates for my seasonal items and stick with a white dinner plate year-round.

Since we’re often eating outside in the summer, I prefer to just purchase the melamine plates instead of the more expensive ceramic plates. They’re very inexpensive {these blue ones were less than $2 each from HomeSense} and you don’t have to worry about them breaking. The melamine platters, serving bowls, etc. are also a great way to get a larger piece for a really great price. Just watch that they’re not left out for extended periods of time in the sun if you use them outside as they do fade.

Have fun with art work.

if you’ve been around here for a while, you know how much I love making seasonal printables! Sometimes the printable acts as the source of inspiration for my color scheme and sometimes I design the printable to match the colors I already have. I posted last week about the bee decor printables that I made and decided to use the “Let It Bee” one on the side board {you can see the other designs HERE}.

I also made two more printables to pick up more of the blue color tones that I wanted in the room. Both will be up on the blog in the next week or so, so let me know which one you would like first! The first printable celebrates all of my favorite things I love about summer in a blue and green “blueberry” color scheme.

It’s a little hard to see it hanging on the wall from the photos, so here’s a close-up…

The second one is called Summer Picnic Essentials. I will actually have this one available in both the blue color scheme as well as a brighter red/pink color scheme.

Add some greenery or fresh flowers.

You can never go wrong with adding greenery or flowers when you need to add a little color. Whether it’s plants, faux greenery, or flower clippings from the garden, greenery brings life to any space. For this simple summer centerpiece, I just switched out the bunnies from our Easter centerpiece and replaced them with a couple of birds. Don’t be afraid to cut up faux stems into smaller pieces that fit your space better. Tuck the stems into vases, jars, bowls, or anywhere else that just needs a little pop of green!

If you can, add a few fresh flowers or fresh clippings from your yard for a fresh summer scent. You can often find a variety of beautiful flowers at the grocery store at this time of year that are pretty inexpensive. And you only need a few to totally liven up the space!

So that wraps up the summer home tours for today! There will be six more homes to tour tomorrow though, starting with Jo-Anna from A Pretty Life. She always has beautiful, simple decor ideas, and you must try out some of her delicious recipes while you’re there too!

Thank-you so much for touring with us today! I hope enjoyed your visit and are inspired to add some fun color to your home this summer. if you’re new around here and would like to stay in touch, you can always find me here…

Instagram / Facebook / Pinterest / Email

Wishing you a wonderful summer filled with lots of relaxing days and fun adventures!

More Summer Home Tours

For more beautiful summer home tours, please visit some of my talented blogging friends. There will be six new home tours each day this week {from Monday to Thursday}, so be sure to check out all of the summer decor inspiration! Just click the links under the images below to visit. I’ll update them all as the week goes on.

Sharing with me today…

Cassie Bustamante // Finding Silver Pennies // Deeply Southern Home

Nina Hendrick // Maison de Cinq // Clean & Scentsible

And sharing the rest of this week…

Monday

The Happy Housie // Inspiration for Moms // She Gave it a Go

Home Made Lovely // A Pop of Pretty // Life is a Party

Wednesday

A Pretty Life // My Sweet Savannah // Fynes Designs

House by Hoff // Lemon Thistle // Dans le Lakehouse

Thursday

Life is Better at Home // Rambling Renovators // Hallstrom Home

Craftberry Bush // JoAnna Anastasia // Willow Street Interiors

Summer Kitchen Decor

Summer Dining Room

Living Summer Summer Decor

Summer Backyard Patio